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Speaking of Angelica

The bossy cartoon character has an unseen side: the adult actor who gives her a voice and is still a bit of a kid herself.

Ask most tots and their older brothers and sisters who Cheryl Chase is, and you're liable to get a blank stare.

Now ask them if they know Angelica Pickles. That's right, the bossy girl from Rugrats and All Grown Up, the Rugrats spinoff, in which all the kids have aged 10 years. Well, Chase is Angelica, so to speak. She gives Angelica her voice.

Saturday marks the 13th birthday for Angelica, one on Nickelodeon's biggest stars. She started out as a feisty 3-year-old and is now planning a big party to celebrate her birthday in "Lucky 13," an episode of All Grown Up. Balloons have been inflated and the candles are lit, but this party may not turn out exactly the way Angelica wants.

Rugrats debuted in the fall of 1991; for those 13 years, Chase, 45, has been the voice of one of the meanest kids on television. But Chase doesn't let the fact that she is no longer a youngster keep her from giving Angelica a voice.

"All of us girls (Chase and the other women who provide voices for Rugrats characters) are in the same age range, and I know we're (adults) but we talk like we're little kids," Chase said. "A lot of times people think that, like for Tommy and Chuckie, there are boys doing it. But we're grownup women. So it's very easy, very easy for me (to voice a character that is so different in age). You just have to have the right kind of pipes in your throat."

The age gap also doesn't keep Chase from relating to Angelica. "I think everybody has a little bad girl . . . or bad boy inside of them," she said. "The thought of me not doing Angelica for the rest of my life would be so weird, because she's such a part of me."

Although Chase's voice is now famous, her beginnings were very humble. As a child, she wasn't interested in acting. "I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little, like around 12 or 13," she said. After considering other career paths, Chase settled on acting.

She studied acting in college and in New York at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She then moved to California to audition for roles. Just when she felt like giving up, she remembered something a college friend said.

"I wasn't getting anything and I had this funny voice, so when I was in college someone said I should try out for voiceover, and I'd never thought of it," she said. She gave voiceovers a try and within four years, she was working on Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy.

Chase, who also has done voices on The Simpsons, says that her friends and family are proud of her. She says that the business of performing voiceovers has become competitive, especially for women.

"Everyone wants to get into voiceovers. It's the hottest thing. Celebrities are all doing it because they have kids, and they want their kids to watch them in the movies," said Chase, who is "mother" to four rabbits and a dog. "I think if you want to do voiceovers, you have to get into acting. You've got to take some acting classes and learn how to act yourself before you go into voiceover."

Chase also suggests not giving up if it's what you really want to do, because it took her four years to land a major role.

Working on voiceovers has it advantages over on-camera work, Chase said. "I like working on voiceover because you really don't have to worry about what you look like. You can go to work in sweats and no makeup and nobody cares," she said. "But if you're on Friends . . . everybody's looking at you all the time. I like to be anonymous. I don't like to be really out there."

Another advantage is Chase's schedule. "I just work one hour a week. It gives me a lot of free time to go and pursue other projects and do other jobs and go on other auditions." She is starting an online business and developing her own cartoon but adds, "Angelica, she pays the bills."

In "Lucky 13," Angelica, who wants to be in the popular crowd, plans a party for the same day as a party to be given by the most popular and beautiful girl in school. Angelica is used to being in charge, so she, her friends and relatives have to figure out how to make this a happy birthday.

At the rate Angelica's going, Chase said that the teen may grow up to be the president of a major movie studio. "She likes to have power; she wants to be in control," Chase said.

But Angelica's "voice" is more quiet and reserved. "When I was in school at her age I was like really, really shy, and I didn't care to be in with the popular kids. I had my own little group of friends, and we hung out in the library," Chase said. "I was more shy and to myself, and more artistic. I didn't care to be a part of (the popular crowd), like Angelica really cares."

Chase hopes the All Grown Up series will last as long as the Rugrats series did. "I hope it lasts another 10 years and hopefully my voice will be able to do it," she said. "I think as long as kids keep watching there will always be a demand for more Rugrats cartoons."

Molly Hays, 15, is in 10th grade at Countryside High and was a member of the 2003-04 X-Team.

"Lucky 13," an episode of All Grown Up, will air at 8 p.m. Saturday on Nickelodeon. From 2-8 p.m. Saturday, Nickelodeon will air a marathon of Rugrats and All Grown Up episodes that feature highlights of Angelica's life.